(MENAFN- Jordan News Agency) Amman, March 21 (Petra)-- Governor of the Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) Ziyad Fariz stressed the importance of "The Palestinian Banking Sector in its Arab Environment" Forum in shedding light on the Palestinian banking sector at a time when the Palestinian economy is facing major challenges due to the Israeli occupation.
In remarks at the opening of the forum, which is organized by the Union of Arab Banks in cooperation with the CBJ and the Palestinian Monetary Authority, Fariz said that other challenges that face the Palestinian economy result from and the state of political and security instability in a number of Arab countries.
He stressed that the Israeli occupation of Palestine posed great challenges, which had negative effects on the political, economic and social conditions.
He pointed out that the Jordanian government and people, under the directives of the Hashemite leadership, had a major role in supporting the Palestinian cause at various levels including the economic, which contributed to supporting the steadfastness of the Palestinians.
The CBJ governor pointed to the role of Jordanian banks in developing the Palestinian economy as Jordanian banks operate in Palestine through 99 branches and 21 offices for seven Jordanian banks.
He said the total assets of these banks at the end of 2017 amounted to 6.6 billion dollars, while the assets of all banks operating in Palestine reached 15.8 billion dollars.
Association of Banks in Jordan President Musa Shehadeh also spoke about performance of the Palestinian economy and said growth rate stood at 3.4 percent in 2015 and rose to 4.1 percent in 2016 before declining to 0.9 percent in the first half of 2017.
He said the number of banks operating in Palestine stood at 15 including 7 Palestinian and 8 non-Palestinian including 7 Jordanian banks.
Shehadeh said that the major challenge that face banks in Palestine is the relationship with Israeli banks that is governed by the Paris Protocol.
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21/3/2018 - 04:35:56 PM
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